Display

The ZTE Blade S6 is equipped with a 5-inch LCD IPS display with 720 x 1280px resolution. Not impressively sharp but perfectly alright at 294ppi. Colors are a little washed out and could definitely be more vivid, but the display is still pretty nice although a little bit too reflective.

Display looks sharp, but is only HD resolution

The screen itself is slightly curved towards the edges, like the one on the Moto X (2014), which you can actually feel in end-to-end horizontal swipes.

The ZTE Blade S6 uses a standard RGB matrix in its LCD panel. With a pixel density of 294 there is nothing really too impressive with the panel.

As far as contrast goes numbers are adequate, but equally unimpressive. It is not particularly bright and seeing how it is a simple LCD, blacks are not very deep either.

Display test

50% brightness

100% brightness

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

ZTE Blade S6

0.26

248

986

0.46

457

946

HTC Desire 616 dual sim

0.35

306

880

0.5

487

976

HTC Desire 820

0.18

235

1299

0.45

598

1327

Oppo R5

0

238

∞

0

417

∞

Motorola Moto G (2014)

0.24

253

1039

0.43

413

968

Sony Xperia C3 Dual

0.13

152

1207

0.56

642

1153

Lenovo S90 Sisley

0

119

∞

0

344

∞

Samsung Galaxy A5

0

191

∞

0

398

∞

Xiaomi Mi 4

0.17

164

940

0.73

679

929

Samsung Galaxy S5

0

274

∞

0

529

∞

Sunlight legibility is rather disappointing and not on par with current devices, mainly due to the low maximum brightness.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Nokia 808 PureView4.698

Samsung Galaxy A34.241

Samsung Galaxy Note 44.033

Samsung Galaxy Note 33.997

Apple iPhone 53.997

Samsung Galaxy A53.895

Apple iPhone 63.838

Motorola Moto X (2014)3.816

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge3.799

Oppo R53.678

Samsung Galaxy K zoom3.675

Nokia Lumia 9303.567

Apple iPhone 5s3.565

Samsung Galaxy S53.549

Nokia Lumia 7353.547

Motorola Nexus 63.543

Alcatel Idol X+3.527

Apple iPhone 5c3.512

Samsung Galaxy Alpha3.509

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo3.487

LG G Flex23.465

YotaPhone 23.453

Motorola RAZR MAXX3.42

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III3.419

Samsung Galaxy S5 Active3.406

Nokia Lumia 9253.402

Gionee Elife S5.53.386

Samsung I9505 Galaxy S43.352

Samsung Omnia W3.301

Samsung Galaxy S5 mini3.174

Samsung I9000 Galaxy S3.155

Samsung Ativ S3.129

Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini3.127

Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom3.118

Nokia N93.069

Apple iPhone 6 Plus3.023

Samsung Galaxy Note2.97

Samsung Galaxy Premier2.958

Sony Xperia Z12.95

HTC One S2.901

Lenovo S90 Sisley2.892

Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express2.861

BlackBerry Q102.856

Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II2.832

HTC Desire Eye2.815

Gionee Elife S5.12.812

Samsung Galaxy S II Plus2.801

BlackBerry Z302.79

Meizu MX4 Pro2.765

Sony Xperia ZR2.672

Huawei Ascend P12.655

Sony Xperia Z32.618

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact2.616

Sony Xperia T32.609

BlackBerry Passport2.595

Nokia Lumia 9002.562

Motorola Moto G 4G2.546

HTC One Max2.537

Nokia Lumia 7202.512

HTC One2.504

Motorola Moto G2.477

Sony Xperia Z2.462

Xiaomi Mi 42.424

Samsung Galaxy S III mini2.422

Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro2.416

LG G Flex2.407

HTC Desire 8202.372

HTC One (M8)2.371

Motorola RAZR i2.366

Meizu MX42.366

Sony Xperia ZL2.352

Samsung Galaxy Note II2.307

HTC One (M8) for Windows2.291

Oppo Find 7a2.279

Alcatel One Touch Hero2.272

Apple iPhone 4S2.269

HTC Desire 600 dual sim2.262

Nokia Asha 3112.25

Motorola Moto G (2014)2.233

LG Nexus 52.228

Nokia Lumia 8202.193

HTC One (E8)2.185

Oppo N32.181

Nokia Lumia 9202.17

HTC One X2.158

Nokia N82.144

Nokia Lumia 6202.142

Nokia 5152.134

HTC Desire 5002.129

Sony Xperia C3 Dual2.12

Xiaomi Redmi Note2.119

Sony Xperia acro S2.119

Nokia Lumia 10202.103

Oppo Find 52.088

Sony Xperia SL2.078

Nokia Lumia 6302.056

BlackBerry Z102.051

Huawei Ascend Mate72.024

Samsung I9295 Galaxy S4 Active2.022

Apple iPhone 42.016

HTC One mini2.003

Xiaomi Mi 32.001

Huawei Ascend P71.992

LG G21.976

OnePlus One1.961

Oppo R8191.957

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray1.955

Lenovo Vibe X21.952

Sony Xperia Z21.944

Sony Xperia E31.943

Nokia Lumia 13201.941

HTC One mini 21.94

Samsung Galaxy Camera1.938

Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime1.935

Sony Xperia J1.932

Acer CloudMobile S5001.931

ZTE Blade S61.927

LG Nexus 41.926

LG G Pro 21.922

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.31.913

Nokia Asha 3081.911

HTC Butterfly 21.905

Sony Xperia T1.894

Nokia Lumia 8301.887

HTC Desire X1.878

HTC Butterfly1.873

HTC Windows Phone 8X1.873

HTC Butterfly S1.867

Huawei Ascend P61.865

Huawei Ascend Mate1.845

LG G2 mini1.838

LG G31.82

Nokia Lumia 15201.813

HTC Desire 616 dual sim1.797

Sony Xperia V1.792

HTC Desire 8161.783

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact1.772

HTC Desire 700 dual sim1.769

Sony Xperia U1.758

Meizu MX31.754

LG Optimus G1.753

Sony Xperia T2 Ultra1.74

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact1.735

Sony Xperia SP1.733

LG Optimus 4X HD1.691

Oppo Find 71.691

HTC One V1.685

BlackBerry Q51.682

LG Optimus Vu1.68

Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.91.672

LG Optimus GJ1.666

LG Optimus 3D Max1.658

HTC Desire V1.646

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 21.632

Samsung Galaxy Ace 31.622

Jolla Jolla1.605

Sony Xperia Z Ultra1.578

Sony Xperia go1.577

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I81601.566

Samsung Galaxy Core1.563

LG Optimus G Pro1.552

Motorola Moto E1.545

LG Optimus 3D1.542

Nokia Asha 3021.537

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime1.507

BlackBerry Curve 93201.488

Sony Xperia M1.473

Oppo N11.47

Meizu MX 4-core1.462

Nokia Lumia 6101.432

Samsung Galaxy S Duos1.4

Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo1.393

Sony Xperia M21.393

Microsoft Lumia 5351.393

Samsung Galaxy Grand 21.38

Sony Xperia E11.372

Nokia Lumia 6251.371

Gigabyte GSmart G13551.361

Sony Xperia L1.351

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.81.35

Xiaomi Redmi 1S1.35

HTC Desire 5101.34

Sony Xperia M2 Aqua1.331

Sony Xperia miro1.324

Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand1.321

Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam1.315

Xiaomi Redmi 21.311

HTC Desire C1.3

Nokia X1.291

Sony Xperia C1.283

Nokia Asha 5031.281

Nokia Asha 5011.27

LG Optimus L71.269

Nokia Lumia 5101.268

Samsung Galaxy Fame1.245

LG Optimus L91.227

Meizu MX1.221

Samsung Galaxy Young1.22

Sony Xperia E1.215

Nokia XL1.204

Sony Xperia E dual1.203

Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176C1.198

Samsung Galaxy Pocket1.18

Nokia Asha 3051.178

Nokia Asha 3061.175

Sony Xperia neo L1.169

Sony Xperia tipo1.166

Nokia Lumia 5201.161

Samsung S6802 Galaxy Ace Duos1.148

Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114

Battery Life

The ZTE Blade S6 packs a 2,400mAh battery. Due to the unibody design it is non-removable.

The phone did okay in our traditional battery test, scoring an overall endurance rating of 51 hours, which is adequate, though hardly impressive.

A talk time of 15 hours is perfectly ok. The Blade S6 really falls behind in terms of web-browsing endurance and multimedia playback, hence the low overall score. Standby is also rather battery-draining.

Our proprietary score also includes the standby battery draw, but it is not featured in our battery scorecard even though it is calculated in the total endurance rating.

In terms of power management, the Blade S6 can reap the benefits of having the Android 5.0 battery manager. It offers a far better overview on usage and very detailed statistics to pinpoint power-hungry and misbehaving processes. ZTE has opted not to deviate from the stock behavior and has only a basic power-saving mode available.

Standard Power saver mode

It is pretty standard and reduces performance a bit by limiting background data and turning off various features.

Connectivity

The Blade S6 comes equipped with quad-band 2G/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band 3G with HSPA (up to 42Mbps of downlink and 5.7Mbps of uplink). The Cat. 4 LTE band support in the Snapdragon 615 (up to 150Mbps download, and up to 50Mbps uploads) is not the best around, but it was probably the LTE multimode (multi-SIM) that was of utmost importance to ZTE.

The phone offers dual SIM support and has a dedicated SIM manager in the settings menu. It lets you choose which SIM card is active and the default SIM to use for placing voice calls, data traffic or messages.

Local connectivity is covered by a single-stream Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac as well as Bluetooth 4.0. GPS and GLONASS support is enabled. There's an FM radio, but no NFC or Infrared on board.